1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the display of radar data, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for converting radar data to Cartesian coordinates and drawing the data in an accelerated fashion.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Radar data is typically displayed on a cathode ray tube employing a raster scan technique in which pixels defining the entire surface of the CRT are referenced by a Cartesian coordinate system. However, radar data is typically in polar coordinate form, such that a conversion from polar to Cartesian coordinates must take place in order to display the data. Algorithms for achieving this conversion are well known in the art, but take 2 seconds or more to update the raster over 360 degrees of data. A typical algorithm receives data and decodes it, filling a slice along a radial line while decoding.